The present invention relates to a plant growing system and to plant container systems and to methods for growing plants.
Container planting is well known and widely practiced. Its uses vary from locations wherein other types of gardening are impossible such as in urban settings such as high rise buildings to its use for decorative and aesthetic purposes such as flower boxes. Container gardening is also widely practiced for purposes of space utilization and design such as for patios, solariums and the like.
In the field of container planting or gardening, different concepts have developed over the years to provide an integrated approach to plant growth. These systems include the use of hydroculture, hydroponics, artificial growing media, natural potting soil, etc.
In hydroculture systems, the entire root mass of a plant is completely immersed in stagnant nutrient water and consequently only a few plants are able to adapt to such conditions.
In hydroponic systems, the entire root mass of a plant is completely immersed in running nutrient water and the system utilizes a pump irrigation system. While some plants of commercial value can be grown with this method, other plants such as roses do not thrive under hydroponic cultivation methods.
Artificial growing media have proved themselves to be valuable alternatives to conventional potting soil. This type of system is useful for those plants which have evolved their root system mainly for anchoring purposes in media other than soil--i.e. orchids and other epiphyte plants. Planting media can include mixtures of bark, peat moss, Spanish moss, sphagnum moss, fertilizer, vermiculite, etc.
Systems of containers using natural potting soil are well known and widely used as they prove themselves able to sustain the life of substantially all plants for a given period of time. There have been many proposals in the art to provide improvements for such natural soil containers; such improvements have included self watering devices such as wicks or special bottom reservoirs. While these systems provide the roots with direct contact with soil particles and microorganisms, the limitations of all these containers is that the water reservoir is generally not large enough or available enough for the growing needs of all plants. Also, another fundamental limitation is that the roots of all plants cultivated in these containers end up being incarcerated inside of a compact potting soil ball. Roots do not further expand outside of the said ball without being damaged as they can escape only through the drainage holes that have not been designed for this very purpose. The growing roots that reach the bottom of all plant containers grow in a pattern known as spiralization: the roots grow in a circular pattern that represents a waste of energy by the plant. The roots become engaged in a vicious circle of unnecessary growth in order to find the necessary space for water seeking and uptake. This provokes the suffocation of root tissue, the complete arrest of growth by the plant, and the start of dormancy. People who are familiar with the art of plant husbandry know that it is time to change the pot for a larger one, a technique known as repotting, otherwise, plants lose their leaves and may even die.